#sysfandoming

- You experience the entire game through screens- minimal graphics, dots and radars and scans and texts. It is scientific and methodical and- not tedious, exactly, but. Exacting. You scan, and move, and monitor, and the whole world is lines and dots and bare bones information on a screen.

- But the world is also alive. It's so beautifully, wonderfully- at times, terrifyingly- miraculously alive.

- man, honestly, solid, i think. really solid. i had a lot of fun. hell yeah. :)

- Gripes around the pacing are interesting to me, having seen it now. On one hand I understand the sense of "oh the beginning is a bit slow" but also at the same time if i had any pacing gripes its actually more the opposite- that the ups and downs were almost too quick for my taste, and the slow burn tension WAS built up with details along the way, but were often waylaid with like. The New Things Happening.

- Honestly I think maybe it comes from a thing of like. I dont think. It was as directly scary. as i was expecting/hoping it would be at points. But i also think it was intentionally a more emotionally draining/tragic movie than it was like. Active Horror. Like it gets in a good amount of body horror and blood at the end. the entire ups and downs of the tension and the oxygen count and the noises and- like its good. it does good tension building. but it also tries to drive home the emotional bits and the balance there i think cut some of the straight tension. worthy trade! but a trade.

- honestly on that note its just fascinating to see how the lore and the very specifically video game mechanics got translated.

- the video game is excellent and is also like a beautiful capsule of a lot of specific horror game things. youre dropped into a situation where as a player you are trying to gather context. you realize its a one way trip. the photographs and Fish Reveal are all one awful, lingering journey. the lore is revealed as you fuck around on the computer, and all in complete silence. the horror is a slow drawing one that only gets heightened as you fall into the flow of the game but your doom gets more and more clear.

- its really good and not all of that translates to a movie!

- like. the first 20 min i think best captured the sense of horror from the game- all these faulty processes, the silence, the drawing tension. being sure you wont make it out. its good. i love it. it probably wouldnt have translated well to a full 2 hours.

- so its GOOD and EFFECTIVE, that the movie- pulls him back up. gives you faces and voices and a different trajectory. more hope. more to lose.

- gah just in general like. yes! this is a good adaptation. it takes the elements of the game and gives them the fleshing out it needs. voices that get agency and emotion and simon with a name and fear and loss and hope. the lore is more concrete, delivered in more generic ways because 2% answers through computer logs dont really cut it here. it lends some of the best elements- slow horror of the camera as your only view out. oxygen ticking down.

- i went into this expecting the doomed ending, and maybe thats why the back and forth on survival felt. a little more tiresome to me at points. it pulls through WELL by the end! enough that even i was like. well? maybe? but def a portion in the middle where i was a bit. well. yknow. okay. i think we get it. alas. it might have benefitted from some additional cuts but i liked everything they kept in, or get what they wanted to do with it, at least.

- really really really lovely detail work. its a single space. it was made and done really well in that sense i think. the lights, the bandages, the tape, the blood. #blood. reaaally delicious detail work. i know its framed as like. an indie effort but tbh this felt decently funded. #to me. perhaps i am just inexperienced for movie graphics.

- v funny i came out to be like. yeah the fish was telepathic. fish was talking. and my friend was like. oh yeah when ___ was talking i was like. thats the fish talking!!! shes anglerfishing you!!! and i was like OH. YES. ANGLERFISH.

- that said as someone who was a little leery of exclusively supernatural explanations- LOVE the back and forth on what is real and what isnt. a little clunky at points but honestly. think it worked out by the end. reality doubting was probably the saving grace for some of the latter lore imo. double fakeout on the broken radio..... the entire latter half is just you unsure how much is real and how isnt.... 👌

- Its an anglerfish. the lights. the teeth. yes. correct.

- telepathic anglerfish.

- honestly theres a whole host of thoughts about the movie ITSELF but i got stuck on the craft and construction of it all. lore neat. special effects neat. emotional lore clunky at times but well intentioned.

- spent a lot of the movie like. hmmm honestly less blood than i was expecting. and then the last 20 min was like Ohhhhh. Theres The Blood.

- the black box surviving even if he doesnt... nice way of cutting the difference on a happy ending i think.

- wow lotta fungus at the end. corrosive blood? the lore got fucky at the back end but it was fun to experience. chaotic. confusing. thats okay though. #blood.

- mark you did great good job.

- what do you MEAN. The zeniths brought a DIFFERENT EXISTENTIAL THREAT EVIL AI BACK WITH THE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THESE MOTHERFUCKERS BROUGHT BACK A MANIFESTATION OF THEIR OWN HUBRIS AND FLAWS AND ITS GOING TO. FUCKING. KILL THE EARTH. AND NOW THEYRE DEAD AND I HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT.

- FOR FUCKS SAKE.

- I JUST. SAVED THE WORLD. CAN YOU ASSHOLES STOP DOOMING IT FOR LIKE. FIFTEEN MINUTES.

- I am very pleased that this time they reset to AFTER the final mission so I can actually feel like Aloy gets some kind of a break after saving the world. again. Like the world is still ending but i can let her take a lap on a sunwing or have her eat some food or something without IMMEDIATE WORLD EXTINCTION hanging over her head.

- It was a little sad to have the base be so emoty tho :( void of everyone except Beta (yay) and Sylens (auUuuughhhhHHHHH)

- OKAY. backtracking.

- Really, genuinely, truly, LOVE how they did Aloy's character arc and development for this game. It was a very intentional choice and I think they pulled it off REALLY admirably.

- It is a very specific, extremely well supported, completely reasonable character trait to have Aloy not know how to ask for help or operate with help, and be independent to a fault. It was very intentional to have her unlearning that as the core emotional arc for the game and it did it. So well.

- Starting the game with Aloy lying to her friends, leaving a celebration early, and going off to start saving the world again, solo, was SUCH beautiful and crisp characterization and sets the bar so wonderfully. Erend and Varl pissed at her for it but still helping, resigned to the behaviour and still steadily working at it. Augahguagahh. friendship. my bread and butter.

- And Aloy growing out of it was NOT a one and done over. It was a growth, over the course of the game- it was a matter of repeated lessons, of various scenarios and people proving themselves, and intentional efforts and missteps. And it means in the last mission, when Aloy is delegating tasks and checking in with people and thanking them for coming- but not trying to turn them away- the difference is so fucking felt. Its core deep, and about someone who understands, fundamentally, how important relying on others and having others is.

- And its just- im not super pleased about all the details of HOW they did it. But I underatand why they killed Varl, from a storytelling standpoint, and I just. The person who was so dogged about getting her to accept help, who Aloy was so clearly pushing away in part because she was worried about getting him hurt or killed. His connections to Zo and everyone else are what starts the base. He is why Aloy can grow that way. And he dies before he sees the full fruition of it. He falls to exactly what Aloy was so scared of- dead as a casualty of a mission she felt was hers.

- But it is because of what he'd done up until that point, that Aloy does not shatter from the loss. Its BECAUSE of what he'd done that his loss does not set her back in connecting and caring about people and accepting help. Letting them risk themselves!!! His work is what secures her ability to survive when he is lost to exactly what she was scared of!! fuck!!!!!

- Shes going around after his death and- shes asking other people how other people are doing, which is so funny to me. queen of emotions. but shes doing it! His absence is his presence and his presence defines the nature of his absence and. the outline love leaves when it goes or w/e. im . auaghgha. varl ilu.

- This isnt even getting into the Beta scenario which like- god. god. Aloy you're kind of awful and I love you. you are ill adjusted and well intentioned and deeply hard on yourself and then you meet. yourself. except not and THATS how you learn to be kinder to yourself. and others. delicious! fucked up! beautiful. Aloy is yelling at Beta about why arent you better and wow the layers. again. wonderfully done.

- So. given all that. you'd think they would have been able to write Zo's reaction to Varl better than that, huh.

- Like damn how did you guys fuck that up right next to the great main plot.

- ugahjhh.

- I really. loved. the way the base grew and changed over the course of the game. The steady creeping of the plants. Items moving in. The way things were added to Aloy's room even though she was never sleeping in it. (The image of people creeping in and adding stuff so that the scant moments when Aloy is there she could enjoy things..... aaaa).

- Kotallo!! What a lovely character. He definitely grew on me. I appreciated the way he had the arm at the end but didnt really opt to keeo it on permanently. In general- idk. I liked the dynamic he and Aloy had at the end. 👌

- Alva. Sweetheart. mixed feelings as a character but I think I understand her archetype so she was. fine. In general the quen really just had me >:|

- fucking. techbro asses. fucking tech bro c e o fucking hero worship fucking dumbasses ugHHhhhhh.

- LOVED the designs of the clans otherwise though- Plainsong? Fucking stunning. The different Tenakth areas incorporating the local terrain!

- The museum in the Tenakth area, and how it fed into the specifics of their founding beliefs and culture? Fucking. Loved it. Bits piecemeal that get focused on and turned into a world and founding belief... dont have words for it rn but really good.

- Talanah spending her whole sidequest being like. Oh God. My Man :( was kind of. eh. but listen shes a girlboss who fixed the Hunters Lounge so she can do whatever she wants. including being really concerned over her manz for her whole plot. u get ur guy. i support you.

- Petra im glad youre doing well im SO sorry i couldnt flirt with you more actively.

- Erend is lovely once its clear he is no longer trying to hit on Aloy. the two of them mourning varl makes me. im fine. its fine or w/e. goddammit.

- Three cheers for various Quality Of Life changes. I am So Glad i never had to inventory manage in this game!!! incredible!!!! pulse your focus!!! wow!!!!!

- LAS VEGAS AREA MY BELOVED. BRIGHT LIGHTS AND SPECTACLE THAT ARE ZERO SUBSTANCE. MONUMENT TO BOTH FLASHY SPECTACLE WITH NO VALUE AS WELL AS INHERENT HUMAN LOVE FOR SHOWMANSHIP AND ADVENTURE AND SHARING EXPERIENCES.

- God I just . Underwater las vegas area. The moment when the water drains and all the lights are on around you and its so meaningless but also like- hey humans did all that! all these stupid advertisments and meaningless announcements about deals long gone and its doesnt mean anything anymore. But it matters that people made it. And its still. Beautiful.

- also tideripper :)

- aaauhh. also. Hodgins from Bones as the inventor guy. 👌

- New machine designs in this game? fucked severely. Slaughterspines? big bat? solar panel ptearodactly? LOCH NESS MONSTER?

- That said the AOE and rolling/stagger in this game is a BITCH.

- Rich People Be Fucking Shit Up as a theme is so funny. and devastating. they do be doing that. haha. :|

- Watching the last hour and Tilda was into Elisabet and Alva had a GF in the Quen and *gestures ay Aloy* and its just so funny like. damn aloy you got so many gays here in your base huh. good on you.

- the. the end. where the new risk is there. and she doesnt tell them. and you go. ah fuck. but then. in the cutscene, immediately after- its clear she does. and she talks about hope. and relying on others and its like. AughhHHhHHHH. growth. she does not tell them when they are celebrating. but she DOES tell them. she takes the moment to breathe. and she tells them. and she works with them. and shes going to work with them. Love It When A Character Develops.

👌

- ah fuck i need to sleep.

- Fun mechanics. Beautiful extension of the game. High highs for writing as well as low lows.

As someone very very pleased overall with the adaptation from the game to the show, something I have missed a little is, oddly enough- the hard cuts to black and time jumps after emotionally harrowing sequences or intense moments. After Henry and Sam's deaths. Joel collapsing outside the university. This episode, though, made something about that choice click into place.

- Having experienced the game, theres a moment I saw the paintings and the art around the door and immediately- oh- its Ish's place! oh, its beautiful! -and then right on its heels- oh, oh, Sam and Henry aren't making it much further, are they. if this is here.

-- this makes sense with the Kathleen narrative being fleshed out, wanting the stories to wrap together, they can't make it out proper. cant make it away, not really. but also. but also.

- ellie talking to sam is- well. goddammit. fuck. he reveals his bite and her first move is to. draw her blood, try to use it as medicine. ellie wants so badly to not be alone. ellie wants so badly for the people she loves to stay. ellie would draw the immunity out of her blood and give it to others if she could. she tries to. its such a naive move. its all she can do. it does nothing.

- The scene is almost verbatim from the game and it cuts to the core both ways! impeccably! ow.

-- the choice to stay on ellies face is. yeah.

- Bloater does the head rip thing and my only thought was "oh thats such a nice homage to the game, where i got joels head ripped off/in half a solid 8-10 times :)"

Finally finished the main questline of HZD Frozen Wilds, which was good and great. But. but. At the end of it, as things were wrapping up, the conversation with CYAN hit a point where Aloy was asking what the world was like Before.

And CYAN talks about how things were Real Fuckin Bad. Because of resource wars and displaced refugees and starvation. And then she talks about how all of that stemmed from dramatic, human aided climate change. And how people didn't do anything until things were catastrophic. Millions displaced or dead. (Aloy asks: The whole of Earth didn't have enough space for everyone?)

(No. Not after so much of the Earth became inhospitable.)

And then desparate measures. Things like CYAN herself, advanced AI's and countermeasures to try and balance things. A desperate, dramatic pivot, greased with the blood of millions. But it worked. It bought them some time.

(Until. Until the Faro Swarm came along. Until human propensity for militarization and overexploitation of resources came to fuck everything up one last time.)

(It seems my joy at our success was... premature).

I watched this conversation play out and I glanced at the windows where ash has been clouding the skies for... days? weeks? and thought about. Millions dying, global tragedies, over and over for something to change. About how maybe even that wont be enough.

HZD was a fucking beautiful game in so many ways. But i'll be damned if sometimes the writing isn't a little... too well done.

...

anyway. i also really wish aloy could have a little more time after the epilogue. time to breathe. time to come back and talk to cyan or rest among people who would treat her as a person who needs a fucking break instead of a Blessed Chosen One or an unflappable hero. I get why they reset to right before the last main story mission. But god. She deserves a break- a real one, not one with the looming destruction of the planet heavy on her conscience.